


Finding Normal

by athersgeo



Category: Power Rangers Time Force
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-07 21:03:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4277796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athersgeo/pseuds/athersgeo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Returning to the 31st Century was supposed to be going back to normal for Katie - but what is normal when you've spent four months a thousand years in the past? What is normal when everything's changed?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding Normal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gingayellow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingayellow/gifts).



> *tugs at collar nervously* So, um, this really was supposed to be a short story. Instead, it's ended up being a full-on novelette (and well on its way to being a novella) - seems like the Katie Walker who's lived in my head for most of the last almost fifteen years REALLY wanted to get her story out!
> 
> Some parts of this story brush up against parts of my PRTF story Max Force (which covers the same period of time, but largely from Jen's POV) so if you've read that, one or two pieces will look a little familiar. If you haven't read that, well, this is Katie's story and she isn't basically in the first third of that story so...you should be okay!
> 
> Standard disclaimer: not mine, no money made, no harm intended (though Alex is probably a little bruised around the edges by the end of this). Katie's extended family are largely my invention - I'm happy to share them, but please ask first :)

Finding Normal

As the timeship came into land, Katie tried to sort out her feelings. Sitting opposite her was Jen, who looked as distraught as any person could, but even allowing for Jen's distress, Katie couldn't help but realise her own feelings were much more joyful. She was finally home. In a matter of hours, she'd see her family again and everything would be back to normal. Except—

At this point in her thoughts, the control room door slid open and Alex walked in. Once, that would have made Jen's face light up the room. Once. Not now. Katie sighed. This **was** the new normal.

"Welcome back, Rangers."

At Alex's remote tone of voice, Katie winced. He knew them better than that; couldn't he have unbent just a little? Made it seem like he was even slightly pleased they were back?

"Captain Logan's waiting to speak to you," Alex continued. "Kendall, Regis, Walker – you're up first."

A lead weight settled in Katie's stomach. Of course. This was a disciplinary matter. Who knew how many rules and regs Jen had broken to take them after Ransik and now they were back, it was time to settle that score. She slowly pushed to her feet, aware of Trip doing the same thing. Lucas, though, was still in his seat, frowning.

In a moment, she realised what was about to happen: Lucas was going to defy Alex's command and make matters exponentially worse. From the way Jen was shaking her head their leader had figured it out too. And still Lucas remained in his seat.

Katie rolled her eyes and tapped him on the shoulder. The answering glare suggested Lucas was trying to slay her on the spot. Katie just glared back and finally, reluctantly, Lucas got to his feet.

"Yes, sir."

Katie didn't think she'd ever hear two words said quite so grudgingly.

Lucas led the way out of the timeship and into the heart of Time Force HQ. Once he judged they were out of Alex's hearing, he rounded on Katie.

"We shouldn't—"

"We should," she retorted, cutting him off. "Staying wasn't going to help Jen. Not if Alex is really gonna do this." Even as she said the words, she found herself oddly disappointed. Only a few minutes ago, she'd been happy to be here. Now it looked as if they'd have been better off staying in 2001.

"Guys," said Trip. "Maybe it's not as bad as you're thinking."

"How can it not be?" Lucas demanded. "Jen is going to take the fall for something we all did. That isn't right."

"It isn't right," Katie agreed, "but if we don't go along with this, it's only going to be worse. And you know it."

Lucas grimaced and turned away. "I hate this."

"Yeah." Katie sighed. "Me too."

Without further argument, they made their way to Captain Logan's office.

The hallways grew increasingly familiar as they moved out of the hyper-sterile technical department and into the parts of the building dedicated to the crime-fighting side of the force. And yet there was something about the familiar white walls that made Katie's skin crawl. Four months away had made them seem claustrophobic. Or maybe it was her that had changed.

The fact that the other Time Force officers they passed were smiling and offering welcomes and congratulations only added to her sense of dislocation. Surely everyone knew they were in disgrace – or maybe they didn't. Maybe the disciplinary side of things was being kept quiet – and they had, at the end of the day, brought Ransik in. Maybe that would mitigate things. Maybe.

God but she was starting to hate that little word.

They finally reached Captain Logan's office, in the bowels of the building, but instead of finding a forbidding closed door, the man himself was standing in the doorway and he was smiling – something Katie would have once suspected he didn't know how to do.

"Reporting as ordered, sir," said Lucas, offering a salute as was proper, but his voice betrayed his confusion.

Logan returned the salute. "Welcome back – come in."

Katie exchanged a glance with Lucas. Logan sounded happy and looked happy. What the hell was going on? It was only when Trip rolled his eyes and actually stepped into Logan's office that Katie realised neither she nor Lucas had actually moved.

"At ease," said Logan as the door closed behind Katie, the last member of the party to enter. "I'd offer you all a seat, but this isn't your formal debrief – Major Collins will take care of that later."

At the unaccustomed rank paired with the all too familiar name registered, Katie snapped her gaze from Logan to Lucas and then to Trip. It wasn't just her.

"Major Collins?" Lucas echoed.

Logan's smile turned vaguely sympathetic. "It's a lot to take in: you've all earned promotions as a result of this mission. Alex was promoted to Major and has been posted to head a new department within Time Force – Covert Operations. Your time in 2001 comes under his purview."

Well that was one question answered, Katie decided.

"And for actions above and beyond the normal scope of your duty, performed in exemplary style, you are all hereby promoted. Lucas Kendall, you are promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. Katherine Walker, you are also promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. Trip Regis, you are promoted to the rank of Squad Leader. Congratulations."

Katie's mouth hinged open in total shock. If Logan had said he and Alex were running away to join the Psychic Circus on Segonax, Katie didn't think she could have been more surprised.

"I don't understand!" Lucas finally managed. "We're—we're not being disciplined?"

Logan's smile finally faded at that and, oddly, he rolled his eyes. "I told Alex he needed to explain this," he muttered. Louder, all he said was, "Since your whole trip to 2001 was, retrospectively, Covert Operations' first mission, and since it was a total success – the only differences between the original timeline and the present one being a book of bad poetry—" Katie winced "—and a line of children's toys – there's nothing to discipline you for."

Lucas' mouth closed with a snap.

"And, just for your information, Jen has also received a promotion – she's now Captain Scotts."

Katie nodded. That made sense, given their own hikes in rank.

"With that out of the way, two more items of business, then you can go. Item one, I'm afraid, is your morphers. With the Ransik threat dealt with, it's felt that leaving the morphers unsecured is overkill. They'll still be your morphers, obviously, but until Time Force actually requires the Rangers again, they'll be in secure storage here."

Katie nodded again. Reading between the lines of Logan's statement she judged there was an element higher up the food chain that wanted to make sure they wouldn't take it into their heads to actually go rogue. Without an argument, she handed over her morpher. She felt, rather than saw, the startled looks both Lucas and Trip were giving her at that, even as they finally handed over their morphers. She shrugged.

"Thank you." Logan also looked surprised at the lack of argument. "Lastly, Alex – Major Collins – has asked that you consider accepting transfers into Covert Operations."

Katie's mouth again hinged open in silent surprise.

"I—we need some time to think about that," said Lucas, sounding dazed.

"Of course." Logan nodded. "You've all earned four weeks of leave, starting this afternoon, so you've got plenty of time before a decision has to be made." Logan pushed back to his feet. "The final thing is at eleven hundred hours, there will be an official presentation of your commendations, which will then be followed by a press conference, I'm afraid."

Katie felt Trip cringe at that information. "Do we have to be there for that?" she asked.

"It's the price of fame, Katie – the public want to know how you captured Ransik." Logan's expression suggested he was not unsympathetic. "In the meantime, you'd better all get cleaned up and back into uniform—" here, Logan couldn't resist eyeing their twenty-first century gear "—dismissed!"

A little more sure of himself, Lucas led the way out of the office and headed in the general direction of the HQ's locker rooms.

"Not what I figured was going to happen," he offered.

"Not even close to what I was expecting," Katie admitted.

"Mostly what I was expecting," said Trip. "Told you it wouldn't be as bad as you were thinking. But sure, ignore the Xybrian in the room."

Lucas snorted. "No you said it **might** not be as bad. There's a difference."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Boys!" she muttered. "I just hope Alex had the decency to explain to Jen."

Lucas snorted again as they reached the male locker room doors. "I'm sorry; Alex? Explain? I don't think the word's in that guy's vocabulary." And with that, he pushed into the locker room.

Trip followed suit, leaving Katie standing alone in the hallway. She sighed. At least she was back and by the end of the day she'd be back with her family. But that wasn't as much of a comfort as it had been only an hour earlier.

~*~

The press conference had been precisely as bad as Katie had feared. The barrage of questions had been both intrusive and persistent – so much so that she had half expected Jen to actually strangle one spectacularly insensitive reporter at the eighth question about Wes – but there, at least, Alex had proved helpful. The troublemaking reporter was ejected and the conference concluded with a near-head spinning rapidity.

"Not my idea," he said, as he led them away afterwards. "I'm sorry to put you through it."

And though the apology was aimed generally, Katie knew he really meant it for Jen.

"One final thing before you go on leave," Alex continued. "I need your official reports from the mission."

"Circuit filed them when we landed," said Trip.

Alex looked startled. "You managed to do your paperwork as well as catch Ransik?!"

"Some of us can multi task," Katie muttered, drawing snorts of muffled laughter from Lucas and Trip.

"In that case, enjoy your leave," said Alex, shaking his head. He peeled off from the group and headed up the nearest set of stairs.

"So," said Lucas. "Who's got any plans?"

"Well I'm heading home," said Katie. "Jen – you coming?"

Jen shook her head. "Not right away."

Katie knew with certainty that her friend wouldn't make the trip back to New Orleans at any point during their four weeks of leave – but she said nothing.

"You going to Xybria?" Lucas asked, looking at Trip.

Trip shook his head. "My parents are coming here instead."

"Cool."

"What about you, Lucas?" Katie asked.

Lucas shrugged. "Sleep; laundry."

"Not going to see your sister?"

"She's off-planet," said Lucas. "Doing some kind of geological survey on Rigos Three."

Katie tried to imagine being so blasé about not getting to see her family and failed. Aloud, all she said was, "Oh."

Lucas smirked. "It's okay – with that much distance between us, we get on a whole lot better than we do in person."

"C'mon," said Jen. "I know one thing I'm not doing with my leave."

"What?"

"Hanging around Headquarters," she said. "It's time for us to go."

And that was a statement no-one could argue with.

It took Katie less than half an hour to change out of her uniform, into thirty-first century civvies and to make her way to the Central City transit station. She didn't notice the looks and glances at first, but as she waited for the shuttle to New Orleans, she gradually became aware of the attention she was garnering.

"Are—are you one of the Time Force Rangers?"

The question came from somewhere near hip level. Katie blinked and looked down to see a small child staring up at her in awe. That was when she realised just why everyone was staring.

For a moment, she was tempted to turn tail and run. She had an apartment in the city. She could hide there until the fuss about their return had died down. Except that would mean postponing her real return and now she was so close to getting home, she didn't want to wait any longer than necessary.

She mustered up a smile for the child. "Yes I am," she admitted.

The child beamed brightly. "You're my hero!"

In the next moment, Katie found herself being mobbed. By autograph hunters and well wishers and by people who simply wanted to gawk at her. They crowded round her like so many Cyclobots, except these were ordinary people, all wanting to get a glimpse of a Time Force Ranger. They weren't doing anything wrong, and yet Katie began to feel panicky and claustrophobic and—

"Okay, folks; back it up please!"

It took a few moments, even as the crowd did as the voice ordered, before Katie recognised the speaker as Alex, or the fact that half a dozen other Time Force officers had arrived. And even when she did realise both those facts, she couldn't quite wrap her brain around what those facts meant, until she found herself being gently but firmly ushered into a waiting Time Force transport van.

"What the—"

"You looked like you could use an escape," Alex offered, taking a seat on the opposite side of the van.

Katie took in a deep breath, then let it out, slowly. "How did you know?"

"HQ started getting reports of a disturbance at the transport hub. Didn't take much to work out it was likely to be one of you attempting to head out of Central City." He smiled as the transport lifted off. "You're welcome, by the way."

Katie ducked her head in embarrassment. "Thank you." She sighed. "Guess I'm not getting home tonight, though."

"Who says?"

"Well. The fact I can't hop a transport shuttle would seem to be a pretty good clue."

Alex shook his head. "There are other ways of getting there." He leaned over and pressed the intercom button. "Lucas, what's the fuel status?"

Katie's mouth dropped open when Lucas' voice answered, "Topped off and good to go. New Orleans, here we come."

Alex sat back and looked smug.

"Alex, you can't do this!"

"Watch me," Alex retorted. "This is the least of what Time Force owes you guys. I was going to offer you a ride, but you'd left already, so..." He shrugged. "It's not exactly a luxury shuttle, but at least you'll get there without getting crushed."

And that was something Katie couldn't argue with. Instead, she sat back and studied Alex. This was the man she'd known before the trip to the twenty-first century. Kind. Thoughtful. Willing to bend the rules from time to time. So very much not the hidebound jerk who'd shown up in 2001 and made their lives miserable. She frowned. Why the charade?

"It will still take a couple of hours," said Alex, interrupting her train of thoughts. "Might as well get comfortable."

There was good sense in that statement and yet— "Why?"

Though she couldn't see it because he was still wearing those damn shades, Katie suspected Alex was rolling his eyes. "Because two hours is a long time to sit like you're on hot bricks."

Katie rolled her eyes. "I know you know that isn't what I meant," she retorted. "Why did you do all that stuff to Jen?"

For a moment, she thought he wouldn't answer. Then his shoulders slumped and he pushed his shades up and scrubbed over his face with a hand. "Katie, you are probably the one person in this time I'd explain this to, if I could."

"If you could? And what about Jen? She deserves the explanation more than I do."

"It's complicated."

"What's complicated about it?"

Alex sighed. "Temporal mechanics."

Katie blinked. "What?"

"Like I said: it's complicated and I'm really not supposed to be talking about it with anyone, at least not at the moment."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that the Director of Temporal has sealed that whole mission as top secret."

And now Alex was being deliberately obtuse again. Katie grimaced. "You think it's going to come out anyway."

Alex's expression mutated into one that suggested he was rolling his eyes again. "Top secret never stays that way, but since it is sealed at the moment: I cannot talk about it." He folded his arms across his chest and deliberately leaned back against his seat in an attitude that suggested he intended to say nothing more.

Katie slowly shook her head. "You know, Jen mourned you."

"I know."

"I suppose you're gonna tell me you were ordered not to tell her you were okay."

"Yup."

Katie shook her head again. "Alex—"

"Katie, if I could do the whole thing over, I would. But we don't get do-overs."

"Guess we don't."

Katie finally matched Alex's more relaxed posture. Pursuing the conversation was clearly going to get her nowhere and, on level, she knew Alex had a point. Orders, at the end of the day, were orders – that the orders sucked worse than a broken vacuum was irrelevant. Still, she couldn't help but think Jen might just have found a way to circumvent those orders, roles reversed.

The journey continued in strained silence. She could, she knew, have started a conversation with Lucas, but he was likely concentrating on his piloting. So Katie sat in silence and allowed her thoughts to turn to her family. What was their reaction to her return likely to be?

Up to this point, she'd assumed that it would all be fine – and that her return would be a welcome surprise to them. But a nagging doubt began to plague her: would they be pleased? Had they missed her? Had they even been told she was all right? Just how had their disappearance from 3000 been marked?

She glanced across at Alex, but the regular rise and fall of his chest suggested he was asleep – ever the good officer – so no answers would be forthcoming from him. All she could do was sit and wonder and worry.

At some point, she fell into a light doze herself, but the feel of the landing thrusters kicking in brought her back to awareness, even as Lucas' voice crackled over the transport's intercom: "New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, Walker residence. Last stop – would all passengers leaving us here please make sure they have all their personal belongings and—"

"Lucas, cut it out!"Alex objected, earning a disembodied snicker.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Are you heading straight back to Central City?"

"Probably for the best," said Alex. "If I'm not already persona non grata with your grandmother, I fairly soon will be and while I might have survived Ransik, I don't want to push my luck."

"She likes you."

"Liked," Alex corrected. "She likes Jen far more, and you know it."

That was an indisputable fact. Perhaps it was wise of Alex not to come in. "I'll tell her you said hi, then?"

"Wait until I'm safely out of range."

Katie rolled her eyes, but gathered her things together. "Thank you – both of you."

"You're welcome," Lucas answered. "See you in four weeks."

Katie smiled, and saw Alex's frown when she didn't automatically agree. "Bye, Alex."

Then, not giving him a chance to interrogate her, Katie climbed out of the transport.

In deference to not scaring her family, Lucas had actually landed the transport on the very edges of the property, well out of sight of the main house, leaving her with the long walk up the drive, which suited her nicely – it allowed her to stretch her legs after the journey and it allowed her to get used to the warmth of her home after the climate controlled transport.

It also allowed her to take note of how the place had changed in the time she'd been away. The Walker estate was a modest one by the standards of the area, but it was one that carried a raft of history. Grams had once said there'd been a Walker living in this house (or earlier versions of it) since before the American Civil War – a period of time that was historic, even to Wes. The current house had been built somewhere between two and three hundred years ago, to a plan one of her ancestors had found in a history text. It had always looked quaint and odd, compared to neighbouring houses – but not any more. Seeing it fresh after four months away, Katie actually found it refreshing now. Its white-painted walls and old-fashioned porch, with its bench swing and wooden railings, felt familiar and comforting – and not just because it was her home: it reminded her of one or two of the houses in Wes' Silverhills.

Katie smiled wryly. Maybe it was just as well Jen hadn't come with her. The similarity would have hurt far more.

She finally reached the porch and pressed the buzzer (another very old fashioned touch that had marked her family as a little on the eccentric side) and then waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Nervously Katie smoothed down her clothes. Suddenly she regretted not calling ahead. What if no-one was home? What if they were so angry with her for disappearing that they didn't want to see her? What if—

"Kathy!"

The squeal was loud and excited and coming from roughly hip level. With a start, she realised the door had opened and there was her youngest brother, Nathan, staring up at her with wide eyes, a broad grin splitting his face.

"Momma, Momma, Kathy's here!" he yelled.

Though the yell appeared to be unnecessary, because Elizabeth Walker was already appearing behind Nathan, alerted by his first exclamation. "Katherine Elizabeth Walker! You—"

Then Katie found herself enveloped in a crushing hug from her mother and all her fears evaporated in a heartbeat. "Momma!" Katie buried her face in her mother's shoulder and sobbed. "Momma I'm so sorry!"

"Oh, honey." Katie felt her mother's hands rubbing soothing circles into her back. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You were doing your job. And you're home now. That's what really counts. You're home now."

~*~

Later, after more tears had been shed and the rest of the Walker clan had arrived, explanations and news were exchanged. Katie – in so far as she was permitted – told her family about her adventures in 2001. They, in turn, told her about their doings.

Nathan had finally mastered his reading (to her mother's relief and his own delight). Elizabeth had taken on a new patient – a Mr Stark, who'd moved to the Bayou from New York (reading between the lines, Katie judged he was her mother's usual sort of patient: demanding and not a little bit awkward to deal with – then again, her mother did love a challenge that way). Andrew – her oldest brother – had begun his training to become a shuttle pilot (Katie didn't miss the wince on her mother's face at that announcement), while Bobby – Andrew's twin – was starting his final year at law school (he'd be one hell of a lawyer when he was qualified, if the way he always had an answer was anything to go by). There was Cousin Estelle's engagement party, where Nathan and Estelle's baby brother Jamie both ended up in the horse pond (Estelle clearly hadn't forgiven them for making a scene – neither boy was at all repentant). There was Uncle Frank's retirement party (which sounded a tame affair by comparison). Cousin Victoria had broken up with her boyfriend and then gotten back together and then broken up again (by the end of that explanation Katie felt as if she needed a scorecard to keep track of where that particular relationship was at). Aunt Ann was pregnant again – twins (or maybe it was triplets – by this point, Katie was beginning to lose track of the details).

In fact, the only two people who weren't present and reported on were her father, Robert, and Grams. Grams was easily enough explained: that venerable lady rarely left her apartment these days as she didn't handle crowds well and Katie knew that before the day was very much older she would be expected to pay a her a visit. But her father was a little more perplexing.

When she'd left this century, he'd been about to start a new project, working on a brand new orbital platform. It was a six month posting, she knew, so his absence wasn't a surprise. But the lack of any mention at all...

Cold fingers of fear wrapped around her heart. She looked again at the faces of her family and saw the signs she'd missed. Her mother looked worn down. Bobby and Andrew both looked grim between their forced smiles. Aunt Ann – her father's sister – looked melancholy despite her good news. Only Nathan and Jamie looked untouched – and that was surely an artefact of their age.

Katie opened her mouth, but Elizabeth frowned heavily and shook her head. "Bobby, why don't you and Andy—"

"Andrew," muttered the elder twin with grimace.

"—go and start a pot of Grams' gumbo," Elizabeth finished, ignoring the interruption. "Ann, can you see to Nathan and Jamie? Estelle, I need you to take a run to Main Street Bakery for some pies." She clapped her hands, and the rest of the family stirred into action.

Elizabeth Walker was as much a force of nature as she'd ever been. That, at least, was comforting to Katie, even as the living room of the house emptied faster than Katie could draw a breath.

"What's happened to Poppa?" Katie asked.

Elizabeth drew in a long, shuddering breath, then let it out in a sigh. "Honey...two days after you vanished, there was an accident. An explosion."

"Poppa?"

"Your father wasn't—he wasn't caught in the blast." But Elizabeth's voice shook. "At least, not so badly."

Katie stared at her mother. "Momma?"

"He got trapped under some falling debris. They found him, but he—he was pretty bad."

Katie swallowed heavily. "Is he—?" But she didn't know exactly what question she was asking and she certainly didn't know what answer to hope for.

Elizabeth mustered the faintest of smiles. "Your father's a strong man, Kittie. With time, he'll be all right, but it's a long, slow road with a lot of hard miles still to travel."

"Oh, Momma." She wrapped her arms around her mother's trembling shoulders. "Momma, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, little girl," Elizabeth replied. "Both of you were doing your jobs." Katie felt her mother's tears against her skin. "You came back to me, and when he's well enough, so will your father."

"Where is he?" Katie asked presently. "Can I see him?"

"He was in the Southern Central Medical Centre, over in Flagstaff, and he was allowed visitors for short periods, but they've been wanting to get him into a burns treatment program on Clystron IV..."

Katie felt the bottom of her stomach drop out at this news. "When did he go?" she whispered.

"This morning – it's an eight week treatment."

And Katie felt a wash of guilt. She should have been here to see him. Heck, she should have been here to support her mother and brothers. And she hadn't been. What kind of a daughter was she?

~*~

It was nearly a week before she visited Grams. It took that long for the rest of the family to allow Katie to be out of their sight for more than the average trip to the refresher. Under the circumstances, Katie could understand it, but that made their behaviour no less suffocating – and no less humiliating. From the expression on Gram's face when Katie finally entered her sitting room, Grams also had a pretty fair idea of what had been going on.

All the older woman said was, "Well don't hover in the doorway, girlie. Sit down and tell me all about it."

Katie sat, perching on the footstool that had always been her seat in Grams' parlour ever since she could remember. "You mean the boys haven't been by and spoiled the story?"

Grams chuckled and her weathered face broke up in a profusion of dimples. "Bobby's got stories enough of his own, and you know Andy don't say much anyway."

"Except to insist he's Andrew now – when did that happen?" Katie asked. It was a question she hadn't felt she could ask her mother.

"Just after your father's accident," Grams answered, her smile fading. "Said he was the oldest now and the man of the family and that he shouldn't go by a little kid's name any more."

Katie winced at that. "So it's my—"

"It is not your fault, Kittie," said Grams hotly. "You were doing your job."

"Momma said the same thing." Katie sighed. "I still feel guilty, though. She needed me here, and I wasn't."

Grams gave her a long hard stare. "You'd better not be thinking of giving up your job."

Of course Grams had guessed. "She needs me."

"Horse hockey. I don't say your Momma doesn't need you right now, because she surely does. She needs to see that while Robert might not be coming home any time soon, you have, you're whole – and in the process, you've done us all proud and don't you ever forget that. At the same time you've got a life and friends and a job in Central City and your Momma doesn't need you to give that up."

"But the job means I could disappear again – or, or get hurt, like Alex did, or like Poppa."

"And you could get hit by a speeder while crossing the street," Grams retorted.

There was no answer to that.

Judging her point to be well made, Grams sat back in her seat, a satisfied expression on her face. "Now, how 'bout you tell me what all you got up to. I might have seen the headlines, but I want to know what my granddaughter really did."

Grateful to leave the discussion about her future (though Katie knew Grams well enough to know that this wouldn't be the last time they had this conversation), Katie launched into the same explanations as she'd given the rest of her family. From meeting Wes to falling through a time hole and meeting Walter Brown; from dealing with Eric to apprehending Ransik and his mutants; from life in the clock tower to life in the twenty-first century.

At the end of it, Grams said, "Busy four months."

Katie found herself giggling at that. "I guess it was."

"And I should have liked to have met this Wes character – he sounds like a nice young man," Grams continued. "But, girlie, did you have to encourage Walter Brown's poetry?"

Katie winced. "It is bad, isn't it?"

"Bad? He was terrible!" Gram's smile reappeared. "But I guess you couldn't leave him to those bullies – so I suppose a book of bad poetry is a decent price to pay."

Katie mustered a weak smile in response. "I still shouldn't have done it. Not really."

Grams made a dismissive gesture with her hand. "No grandchild of mine would ever let bullies get away with that kind of thing. It's not in your DNA."

"I guess not."

There was a moment of silence, then: "I notice I haven't seen Jenny yet. Did she end up staying behind?"

"Not like that," said Katie. "She came back to this time, but she's still in Central City. I guess, with her uncle gone she doesn't think there's anything much to pull her back here."

Grams snorted. "You tell her that I expect at least a vid call from her before your leave's up. She might not be kin but she is surely family."

Katie smiled at that. "I'll tell her."

"Good. Now, since it's almost supper time, you'd best be gettin' on home before your Momma sends out search parties. And you think about what I said, about not giving up your job."

"I'll think about it." But Katie was already sure of her decision – the only question she had was who she needed to explain it to.

~*~

"Katie? Are you sure about this?"

There were ten days of leave remaining and having waited for Jen to call, Katie had taken matters into her own hands. She had hoped that maybe the silence from her friend was because Jen was getting out and enjoying life, but she could see now that wasn't the case. Over a holoscreen connection, Jen's face looked pasty and haunted. It suggested that far from getting out and enjoying life, Jen had been holed up in her apartment, brooding. Katie winced at that, even as she answered, "Yes, I'm sure – Momma needs me. Especially now."

Jen nodded. "I get that, but you worked so hard to join Time Force—"

Katie smiled faintly. "Time Force was always more your dream than mine; you know that."

"That doesn't mean you worked for it any less," Jen pointed out.

"It also means I'm okay with changing my mind."

"I guess you would be." Jen sighed. "And I know I'm not gonna be able to change your mind – though I'm kind of surprised Grams hasn't."

"She's tried. But all I can think about is Momma thinking she'd lost me and then nearly losing Poppa, too, and I can't put her through that again. Then there's Nathan to think about."

"You could always take a leave of absence," said Jen. "A six month sabbatical, or something."

Katie shook her head. "And then what? No; my mind's made up and I sent my resignation through to Captain Logan this morning, so you can't talk me out of it. It's done."

It was Jen's turn to shake her head. "Okay – but you get to tell Lucas and Trip." She paused. "And Alex."

"Captain Logan was going to tell Alex," Katie replied. "As for Lucas and Trip, they're next on my call list. So what about you?"

"Me?"

"What are you going to do about Alex's request?"

Jen's mouth pursed into a grimace. "I don't know." She looked down at something Katie couldn't see. "It hurts to see him, Kittie."

"Yeah. But, you know what, I don't think it goes on hurting. I think—" Katie grimaced. "I think he did what he did for good reasons."

Jen snorted inelegantly. "That's the thing of it: Alex always has good reasons, they just might not be so good for everyone else." She looked up. "Grams was right about that – him and me, we didn't work."

"Grams told you that and you still said yes?! Wow; you're braver than I thought."

Jen laughed, but there was a bitter tinge to it. "Or just stupider."

"On the other hand," Katie continued, "you and Alex were pretty great partners, and you know it."

"And if I stay with TF Crime, I have to start being a desk jockey."

"Right." Katie hesitated a beat. "Whatever you decide, I know it's gonna work out for you."

"That's what Trip says."

"Maybe he knows something you don't – he is a Xybrian."

"And maybe you do, too." Jen frowned. "What do you know?"

Katie smiled. "That I'm a hopeless romantic."

Jen uttered another snort.

Katie let her smile fade. "Seriously, Jen – all I know is that you and Wes work like—like Momma and Poppa. And if the universe has got any scrap of justice in it, things will work out for you."

"You're right; that is hopelessly romantic." But the expression on Jen's face suggested she appreciated the sentiment. "I've gotta go. It was good to see you – even if I do think you've made a mistake."

"My mistake to make," Katie retorted, smiling to take the sting out of her words.

But after the connection cut and she started work on the various chores that needed to be seen to, the first nagging little doubt sprouted. Had she made the right choice?

~*~

Katie could feel disapproval in Gram's gaze, even as she efficiently sorted laundry. Unusually Grams had actually come into the main Walker house, but why she was visiting she had yet to announce. So Katie sorted laundry and waited for her grandmother to give voice to whatever was on her mind.

"I never took you for a coward."

Katie winced and didn't look round at this statement. "I'm not."

"Then why in the blue hell are you still here?"

And for Grams to use profanity, Katie knew it was serious. She turned, holding three of Nathan's socks. "Momma needs me."

Grams rolled her eyes. "Heaven send me patience, girlie. Do you really think you're indispensable?"

"No."

"Then why are you still here? And don't give me none of that 'Momma needs me' stuff. That's the polite lie you told your bosses."

Katie winced. "I feel guilty that I wasn't here."

Grams simply nodded. "And?"

"And, maybe I think I could have saved Poppa." This was whispered – the first time the thought had been given voice, even if it had vaguely been bouncing around in her head from the moment she'd learned what had happened.

Grams nodded again, but where her expression had been stern, it was now sympathetic. "Girlie, no-one but God could have done that."

"I know."

"But you still feel guilty."

"Yeah."

Stiffly, Grams stood up from her seat and shuffled across the room. "Listen to me, Kittie-Kat: you have nothing to be guilty for. I know me saying so doesn't make you feel any better now, but you'll hear it sooner or later." And she wrapped her arms around Katie's shoulders in a tight embrace. "Trust me, Kittie-Kat. None of this was your fault."

And Katie found herself crying. For her father; for her mother; for everything that the family had lost. And in the haze, all she heard was the soothing voice of Grams whispering, "Let it out, Kittie-Kat. Let it out. You'll be all right."

~*~

The next few days were a bit of a blur. On top of the emotional breakdown, she found herself suffering from Delayed Temporal Syndrome (the doctor who pronounced that one had sounded irritatingly delighted by the diagnosis) which left her dizzy and nauseous and stuck in bed. It meant she missed a vid call from Jen (and though Jen left a message, it was sufficiently cryptic Jen might as well have not bothered) and another from a Lieutenant Detournay (not a Time Force officer Katie knew).

In fact it was almost a week before Katie actually felt well enough to even want to leave her bed – and it was longer than that before her mother allowed it, and even then, it was with imposed limits on what Katie was (and wasn't) permitted to do.

"You can leave me to worry about Nathan's clothes," said Elizabeth fiercely when Katie ventured something about laundry. "You're not here to be my unpaid helper, you're here to get better."

And Katie wisely dropped the subject.

Instead, she used her enforced rest to catch up on current affairs and life in general – but that just raised the spectre of the career she'd given up. She'd been so sure that was the right choice – and part of her was still convinced – but the reality of it was sinking in: what else could she do? Jen had been right about how hard it was to get into Time Force. Hard enough that she was beginning to recognise that her skills were all tailored to working in law enforcement and would be of precious little use in civilian life.

She really needed to talk to someone who would understand, but when she tried to contact Jen, the call went straight through to a messaging service. It struck Katie as odd, but when paired with the cryptic message Jen had left her, Katie assumed her friend was on some sort of assignment.

She tried to contact Trip, but the call just went unanswered. As did the one she put through to Lucas. That suggested that whatever they were up to, it was something big and important – which probably meant trying to call Alex was going to get her no further either (not that she particularly wanted to have this conversation with Alex).

She had other friends she could call – and there was also Grams – but none of them were serving Time Force officers; none of them would truly understand the problems or be able to usefully suggest solutions. (And, truth be told, Katie was a little shy of having the conversation with Grams, who would, no doubt, not spare any effort when it came to the phrase "I told you so".)

On the other hand, there was a whole sub-department of the Time Force Academy devoted to more or less this problem. Maybe what she should do was schedule an appointment with them. Of course, that would require her to travel back to Central City, and this time she'd be doing it without Alex's intervention.

The memories of that awful forty minutes in the Central City transit hub made Katie shudder and grimace. She highly doubted enough time had passed for her to have faded back into obscurity, so public transport was out. The family only owned one skimmer of their own so she supposed she could ask her mother if she could borrow it, except that Elizabeth needed it for her job and, come to think, it wasn't rated for long distance. So that was out, too.

Katie put her head into her hands and groaned. This wasn't what she needed. It also probably wasn't what the doctor had meant when he'd told her to "relax and take it easy". In fact, she was fairly certain that stressing about her employment situation was the very opposite of relaxing – even if she could do it from the comfort and safety of her own couch in her childhood home.

Distantly she heard the door buzzer sound. She took a quick mental inventory of who was at home, and realised that – for all her mother's protestations to the contrary – her only other direct companion was Nathan. That meant she needed to get up and go answer the door before—

"Kathy! There's a guy here for you!"

Nathan's childish holler had her off the couch and to the now open front door in record time. "Nathaniel Walker, what has Momma told you about opening the door to strangers?" she demanded in scolding tones as she neared him.

"Not to," Nathan mumbled, hanging his head in what he imagined was a penitent pose. "Sorry, Kathy."

Katie shook her head in fond exasperation and opened the door wider to see who it was who'd come to visit her. Then she froze as she took in the gleaming white of a Time Force uniform. For a moment, she felt a flash of panic. Had something happened to Elizabeth? But then she realised the man standing on her doorstep was one she'd known for nearing five years.

"Hello, Katie."

The familiar voice set the seal on it. "Alex." And from the set of his shoulders, she judged it wasn't anything in the remote neighbourhood of a social call. "Nate, honey, how 'bout you go back inside and let me deal with my visitor, okay?"

Nathan nodded and disappeared back into the house. Katie pulled the door shut behind him and turned to Alex. "You do know I quit Time Force, right?"

"I do." Alex's smile was faint and vaguely sheepish.

She gestured to the bench swing on the porch. "So why don't you have a seat and tell me what's up? I've barely heard from Jen and the boys since I came home – and nothing at all since they started working for you."

As Alex took up the suggested seat, Katie came to lean against the porch balustrade and folded her arms across her chest and waited.

"I heard about your father," Alex offered. "I'm sorry."

Katie waved away the apology. "You didn't come here to exchange small talk. What's going on?"

"You realise I can't tell you much?" She nodded. "What I can say is that we're in the middle of a big...oh, who am I kidding here? We're in the shit. Deep in the shit – and getting deeper by the second."

Katie stared. Crudity from Alex were almost as rare as it was from Grams. Things had to be bad. "What can you explain?"

"Not much." He grimaced. "Every thread we pull we find more questions and precious few answers, and none of it is making any sense."

Katie winced. "Okay – so why are you here?"

"I'm hoping you can disprove a theory for me."

"Me?" Katie stared. "How?"

For answer, Alex simply produced a datapad and showed it to her. It was displaying an ID holograph. "Who does that look like to you?"

Katie studied the image for a moment. The man in the image looked familiar, but older than when she'd last seen him. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that was Jen's uncle – but it can't be him. He died right before Jen went to the Time Force Academ...what?" she added as Alex groaned.

"That is not what I was hoping you'd say."

Katie frowned. "Why?"

Alex sighed. "Because Jack Scotts' grave is empty. I checked at the Scotts Estate before I came over here."

There was a long moment of silence, broken only by the rustling of the estate trees in the gentle breeze. Katie fought to make Alex's words make sense, and ultimately couldn't. "I went to the funeral, I saw him buried. How can his grave be empty?"

Alex shrugged. "I don't doubt you saw a casket, but I promise you, it's empty."

"What do mean?"

"I mean, either Jack Scotts' body's been stolen – which is sick and twisted enough that I don't really want to go there – or he was never buried there in the first place."

Katie was glad she was leaning against the railing. It made it that much harder for her to fall over as her knees gave way. This was going to about kill Jen when she found out – Jack Scotts had raised Jen from the time she was six and his death, when she was barely eighteen, had been hard on her. This would be worse. And then a new thought crossed Katie's mind. "Wait; why are you even looking into this?"

And now Alex's shoulders tensed. "I can't tell you." He hesitated. "Unless you accept temporary recommission and rejoin Time Force."

Again Alex's words refused to make sense. "Alex, I quit Time Force because I need to be **here**. Momma needs me—" there was Grams' polite lie again "—and needs me to be here, not a thousand years in the past. Now you want to drag me—"

"I don't want to drag you anywhere," Alex cut in. "If I didn't know you were the only person who can help I wouldn't be here."

Katie glared at Alex. "Talk to Jen – it's her uncle."

"I can't."

"Can't, or won't?"

"Both."

Katie moved to slap him, angry at the cowardly behaviour. Alex caught her arm and deflected it before her blow could land.

"Not because of that. This has nothing to do with my personal relationship with Jen."

"Then what is it to do with?"

"It's classified."

"Bullshit. Alex, what is going on?"

"It's not bullshit, Katie – you ought to know me better than that. I wouldn't be here if I had any other alternatives."

"I told you; I quit Time Force. Talk to Jen."

"And I told you this isn't something I can go to Jen about for reasons I can't explain until you're back in uniform."

This time, Katie's hand connected with Alex's jaw before she even realised she was going to swing for him again. "I told you—"

"Katie, if you don't accept the recommission, I  **will** have to drag you back to Central City, as my captive. I'll have to arrest you and force you through memory extraction—"

"Not even you'd do that." The threat of such a barbaric procedure cut through Katie's anger like a hot knife through butter.

"I'd have to," Alex retorted, a thread of desperation entering his voice. "Katie, without the information you have, I'm staring at the very real possibility of billions of lives being wiped out."

Despite herself, Katie shuddered. Alex wasn't prone to exaggeration, she knew, though he also wasn't above a little emotional manipulation if he thought it would get him the desired result. "Son of a bitch," she muttered. "I don't have much choice, do I?"

Wisely, Alex said nothing.

"I need to get Nathan squared away with Grams and to get my stuff together. Is that all right with you?" she finished in tones that were cuttingly sarcastic. Alex could only nod. "Wait here."

And without another word, she turned and stalked back into the house.

It was only as she started hastily throwing personal items into a bag – items that had only recently been shipped home from Central City – that she realised there was one good aspect to this mess: it would neatly postpone any questions about her future.

It wasn't much of a consolation.

~*~

By the time Alex had finished briefing her on the problem, Katie knew that not having to decide on her future occupation was no consolation at all.

If even half of what Alex suspected was true, this situation was an impending apocalypse. That the most notorious criminal in thirty-first century history was still alive, despite reports he was dead, was bad enough. That his chief crime was the murder of more than a million people via a bio-weapon with no known antidote made matters worse. That he'd subsequently escaped into the past and landed up in 2002, presumably armed with more of the same bio-weapon, pushed this into nightmare proportions. And all that was before reaching the crucial point that the man known as Biocon was also, demonstrably, Jen's uncle, Jack Scotts.

Alex's reticence to talk to Jen had begun to make sense at that point.

Then they'd begun to unravel the story of the Shendraville survivor – the only person to have allegedly survived Biocon's attack – and things suddenly looked a whole lot worse. In the process of the Shendraville attack, Biocon had abducted a six-year-old girl from her native time and had managed to make her subsequently disappear from the records, giving him the perfect, hidden, secret weapon, with programming that would make her absolutely obedient. Katie wanted to make the pieces line up differently. She'd known Jen almost her entire life – from the time when Jen, as a six-year-old orphaned little girl had first come to live with her uncle. She desperately wanted to say that her friend couldn't be Biocon's sleeper agent – that her friend  **wouldn't** be it.

Then Katie found the name of Jen's dead "mother" in the list of scientists who'd created the mechanism Biocon had used to create his sleeper agent, and Katie couldn't deny it any more.

It had all gone to hell at that point.

Alex had been shot and nearly killed by Biocon's other conspirator. Then there'd been a hasty trip back to 2002 to prevent Biocon from wiping out all of history – unfortunately, they were too late to spare Jen from being triggered, but they did at least stop her from being forced to kill Wes. Unfortunately, that had just led to a three-way argument between Wes, Alex and Eric that had left Alex with a broken nose and Eric fighting shy of everyone.

Katie shook her head as her thoughts returned to the present as she reached the top of the stairs in Time Force's HQ. It would take a long while before the emotional scars fully healed, but they had at least scabbed over. Jen now knew the whole truth and, into the bargain, had earned her own version of a happy ending – she'd be staying in 2002, with Wes. All of which meant there was only one loose end from the Biocon mess to deal with: Katie's temporary recommission.

Brushing invisible lint from her uniform pants, Katie squared her shoulders and marched in to Alex's office.

"Lieutenant Walker, reporting as ordered." As much as it had been nice to have a purpose during the Biocon crisis, Katie dearly hoped that would be the last time she had to utter that particular phrase. If this mess had shown her one thing it was that she really had been correct in leaving Time Force.

"Take a seat." Alex, for his part, looked wryly amused. "And you can cut that out for a start. I'd be the laughing stock of the force if I started standing on ceremony."

Katie grinned, even as she took up the seat in front of his desk. "Which is exactly why you did it when you got sent to play match maker. It put us all off balance."

Alex's jaw dropped open. "How did you—"

"Alex, honey, I can add one and one and come up with the right answer. As soon as I knew Jen was originally from Angel Grove your whole visit to 2001 made sense."

"You haven't—"

"Give me a little credit." Katie rolled her eyes. "You missed that part out of your explanations to Jen for a reason – though she, Eric and Wes aren't stupid either. Give them enough time and they'll figure it out, too."

Alex scowled. Clearly that thought had crossed his mind too. "Pretty sure that will cost me another broken nose, somewhere down the line."

"It might, at that."

He cleared his throat. "Anyway. I've got your official discharge papers here. Figure you'd like to get this part over with." But while he tapped the datapad concerned, he made no move to hand it over. "Though I do have a suggestion."

Katie gave him a long look. Alex was now looking inscrutable – which was never a good sign. On the other hand, if she wanted to get out of here any time soon, she'd probably have to hear him out. "Okay; I'll bite: what?"

He gestured with a hand as if to encompass the whole office. "Covert Operations is still in the process of being set up. I've got virtually all my operational staff now – even if three members are actually in the year 2002, and two of them are highly unofficial – but what I don't have is any support staff. I've put in a request to Civ-Ad, but they're going to take their own sweet time in assigning me people—"

"Because you've chewed them out one too many times," Katie judged, earning a frown from Alex.

"Because they're short-staffed," he corrected.

Katie snickered. Then she realised where he was going with this. "You want me to sign on with Civ-Ad?" Katie thought Alex had lost his mind, particularly as he nodded.

Then he started ticking points off on his fingers. "You'll be a civilian. You'll mostly have regular office hours – unless there's something major going down. So in all bar the really exceptional circumstances, you won't get missions that take you out of Central City, never mind out of this time period and the most likely injury is some sort of horrible filing accident. At the same time, you'll know what's going on so we won't end up in the same place we were when the Biocon stuff started to blow up."

"And if you need the Yellow Time Force Ranger, I'll be on hand instead of way out in Jefferson Parish," Katie put in. "Plus you get someone from Civ-Ad who won't give you the stink eye if you can't get your reports in on time."

Alex snorted. "I'm pretty sure that part's a job requirement, whoever's doing it." Katie snickered again, but said nothing, so Alex continued, "What do you think?"

Katie turned the suggestion around in her mind a few times. There was still the small chance of her having to leave this time period – the sheer fact she was the yellow ranger made that a certainty – but that would apply whatever she was doing; it wasn't as if she could give up the yellow morpher to someone else and at least this way she'd likely have some advanced warning of what was causing the impending apocalypse next time. Regular office hours would also mean that she'd be able to go home and see Grams and Elizabeth and the rest of the family when she wanted to – even every evening, if that was what she chose. In fact, the more Katie thought about it, the more perfect the suggestion became.

"I think," she finally said, "it's just about the best idea you've had. Ever."

"You'd go that far?" Alex looked amused. "I'm not sure whether to be complemented or offended by that."

"Oh, complemented, for sure." Katie grinned.

Alex shook his head and pressed a button on his datapad. "That's your transfer to Civ-Ad sent, then."

"You were so sure I'd go for it?"

"Pretty sure." Alex smirked. "Admit it: you were at least a tiny bit relieved when I dragged you back in three weeks ago."

And there was the rub: she had been. She didn't dignify Alex's remark with a reply. Instead, she got to her feet. "How long will the transfer take?"

"Probably about a month – you know as well as I do how fast the wheels of Civ-Ad turn. Technically, you're supposed to be a serving officer until it does go through, but if you want to take that time to, say, find a new apartment here in Central City, get yourself set up and generally ready, I'm okay with that."

Katie eyed him. "You know, you're no-one's idea of a boss."

"Good." Alex smirked. "I'll see you in four weeks, Katie."

"Assuming no-one starts another apocalypse."

"Assuming that," he agreed. "Oh, and if you're heading for home tonight, here."

And in another surprising move, Alex tossed a small fob at her. Reflexively, she caught it only to realise it was a vehicle lock release. "Alex?"

"Well, after the last time, I figured it would be better to be prepared. It's for one of the unmarked skimmers, so you should be able to get home in time for dinner if you head off now." He smirked. "And say hi to Grams for me."

Even as Katie promised she would, she recognised that while this was similar to her last return home, it would be different, too. Then, she'd wanted everything to be just as it had been when she'd left, but it couldn't be. Now, she knew it would be different, and that was okay. She'd finally found her new normal.


End file.
